Your High Risk HPV Test Result Is Positive

This means that High Risk HPV has been detected in your sample.

You should not be alarmed by this. Up to 20% of young, sexually active adults may be infected with high risk HPV at any one time. Most of these infections are transient and will clear spontaneously, without any treatment, within 2 years.

Some women do not clear the infection and it is those women who are at risk of developing cervical cancer in later years.

You are more likely to clear HPV if you are a non-smoker. As yet, there is no treatment or vaccine which has been proven to accelerate the clearance of HPV from the body.

The main health risk associated with persistent high-risk HPV infection is an increased risk of cervical cancer. For this reason it is important that you are seen by a doctor to arrange an examination and further tests.

In women, a pap smear can detect cancerous or precancerous cells in the cervix. If your pap smear is normal you will be asked to undergo a second pap smear in 6 months to see if the HPV infection has cleared.

In some cases, we refer female patients with high-risk HPV infection to a gynaecologist for a special examination of the cervix called a colposcopy particularly if you are in your thirties or older, or if you feel you may have been carrying HPV for several years.

If you would like to discuss your result and its implications for your health in more detail you can book a consultation with one of our doctors.